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“Zero communication,” says Vanhove. The Fluvius contractor started work on the sidewalk of Anselmostraat on Tuesday. It looks like a canal with walkways to the houses and shops.
“We knew that utility works were going to be carried out in the run-up to the planned construction of Anselmostraat, but not when,” says Vanhove. “We suspect from the parking prohibition signs that they will last until April 15. We don’t have any concrete information. Moreover, we were without electricity twice last week. Fortunately it is not high summer, otherwise I would have been in real trouble with my refrigerators and freezers.”
Antwerp district mayor Paul Cordy (N-VA) is also annoyed by the works by Fluvius. The problem is that the district administration has no impact on this.
Rules not respected
“I share the complaints of the residents and shopkeepers there,” says Cordy. “How the works are organized there is an example of how it is absolutely not possible. The rules that the city of Antwerp applies are not taken into account. Anyone who wanted to reach the bus stop had to walk through traffic. There is no separated lane for pedestrians. Communication was completely absent. The contractor installed bilingual signage with a huge spelling error.”
“The rules that the city applies are not taken into account. Anyone who wanted to reach the bus stop had to walk through traffic and communication was completely absent.”
Paul Cordy (N-VA)
district mayor
Nico Volckeryck, director of the Neutral Syndicate for the Self-Employed Greater Antwerp, says he is once again disappointed with how utility companies carry out their work. The small self-employed are the victims of this. “Antwerp alderman for Public Domain Erica Caluwaerts (independent) announced that she would be working on this, but I don’t notice much of it,” says Volckeryck.
Violations
The Antwerp city council actually approved the Nuts Code a few months ago. This contains clear rules that utility companies must adhere to regarding site safety, communication, signaling and completion of the works.
Over the past three months, Antwerp sent ten inspectors to inspect utility companies’ yards. The results show that more than 1,900 violations were found at seven hundred yards. More than half of the violations were found at a Fluvius yard.
Alderman Caluwaerts presents these results to the utility companies and hopes that they will address their working methods. In the long term, the city also wants to issue fines or fees for these violations.
READ ALSO. Utility companies surprised by more than 1,900 violations on their sites: “Every mistake is one too many”
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